Addax Bioenergy

Inspirechange

Thank you for visiting the website for Addax Bioenergy.

Please note that majority ownership (75.1%) of Addax Bioenergy’s pioneering sugarcane bioethanol and renewable electricity operation in Makeni, Sierra Leone, has been transferred to a group of investors led by Sunbird Bioenergy Africa Limited (‘Sunbird Bioenergy group’).

This website is, therefore, no longer available.

We are pleased to hand over the running of operations to Sunbird Bioenergy Africa, which has the capabilities to fully realise its potential.

AOG retains a minority stake of 24.9% and has every confidence that the operation has all the ingredients for success.

Founded in 2008, Addax Bioenergy broke new ground by integrating strict social and environmental criteria from the start and through its partnership with eight international development finance institutions. The respect of stringent sustainability standards, the introduction of innovative social solutions and transparent business conduct earned it recognition as a model for responsible investing in Africa.

The operation produced sugarcane ethanol and renewable electricity from the biomass to power the plant and provide excess energy to the national grid in 2014 and 2015.

The initiative began with two years of social, health and environmental baseline studies, followed by innovations in land leases, a Farmer Development Program (FDP) that trained over 2,300 smallholder farmers and increased food security in the region, on-the-job skills training and employment for approximately 1,700 people, rising to over 3,800 in the high season.

In 2013, Addax Bioenergy received the first African certification by the Roundtable for Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB). It also became the first operation in Sierra Leone to be registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the first sugarcane-based power generation facility for ethanol production to be registered as a CDM in Africa.

The project had to overcome a number of unforeseeable events, which had had a significant impact on the timeframe, costs and revenues initially planned. These included the Ebola outbreak in May 2014, which not only has had a terrible human toll on the country, but also led to substantial delays as most of Addax Bioenergy’s contractors declared “force majeure” and left the site. Addax Bioenergy stayed and provided extensive support during the Ebola crisis, building Ebola isolation and treatment units and donating vehicles and equipment.

In June 2015, then majority shareholder, AOG, decided to downscale the operation to explore options for the future, working closely with H.E. the President of Sierra Leone and his government.

The transfer to a group of investors led by Sunbird Bioenergy Africa in September 2016 gives the business a new lease of life, enabling it to fully realise its goals of commercial success, community development and a contribution to the reduction of greenhouse emissions.